


Happiness Is A Warm (Tattoo) Gun

by WaitandWonder, writeyourownlifestory



Category: Queen (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Tattoo Parlor, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Roger Taylor (Queen) Is a Good Friend, Star Wars References
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-31
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-25 14:48:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 20,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22497838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WaitandWonder/pseuds/WaitandWonder, https://archiveofourown.org/users/writeyourownlifestory/pseuds/writeyourownlifestory
Summary: Right out of university and looking for a fresh start, John answers a desperate call and takes a job as a walk-in artist at an up-and-coming tattoo parlor. There he finds a rowdy bunch in the forms of Freddie, Brian, and Roger, with the latter being a particular nuisance that John just can’t seem to shake. However, the parlor has one rule all must follow: no mixing business with pleasure.
Relationships: John Deacon/Roger Taylor
Comments: 52
Kudos: 99





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> You can blame Lety for this, as she decided to make a comment about Roger being a tattoo artist and our minds couldn't stop working.

John had a very idea of what he was getting himself into when he decided to apply for the job. He knew the basics. An up and coming tattoo parlor required someone to handle walk-ins while the more experienced and well-known artists handled the appointments. It seemed easy enough. He expected that he'd only be there for a few months, get some experience under his belt before moving onto a more suitable parlor. 

John hadn’t intended on becoming a tattoo artist. He had graduated on time and went right to university to become an electrical engineer and while that had been going quite fine for him, he found himself growing quite bored in the trade. 

There were only so light switches he could fix and wires he could tamper with. He had found himself a quaint little union job, but it just all seemed so mundane. He worked long hours, doing the same thing every single day. The routine was beginning to drain the young man, who was only in his mid-twenties at that point. 

He found himself longing to live a life a tad more eventful. Of course, he wasn’t asking for anything wild or untamed, but just to have some variety to it. 

So he decided to go back to school and found his niche in the art community. While he had no intention of becoming an artist of any kind, John allowed himself to relax and enjoy the perks of creating something completely new and different. 

He began to outweigh his options, wanting to be able to have a career once he went down this path, not wanting his degree to be for nothing. He had taken classes on pottery and glass making, but he found that his skill mostly laid in drawing. 

He could sketch well enough and trace almost perfectly from memory alone. He had deft hands that were perfect for shading and adding intricate designs and he allowed that to guide him on where he wanted to do. 

There weren’t many options. Sitting in the park and sketching people for ten quid apiece. He wanted to be a bit more interactive with his talent. 

He decided to pick up tattooing on a whim, having heard a conversation between two other students who mentioned that the trade was becoming more acceptable and popular in their area. John figured that taking the classes couldn’t hurt and before he knew it, he had his license. 

He found the flyer in a coffee shop, requesting someone with a decent amount of skill. John called the man, whose name appeared on the bottom of the flyer, and explained that he was fresh out of school and had only done work on those who volunteered for his final. 

He met up with the man, Freddie, and showed a bit of his work. They met for lunch and had a bit of a chat, getting to know one another. Freddie wasn’t what he expected, is far more friendly than the most artist that he had met along the way. Freddie seemed impressed by his sketches, despite John’s lack of experience and agreed to hire him. 

“To be honest darling, we’re quite desperate. We’ve been through a handful of artists in the past few months and if we don’t fill the chair soon we’re going to have to relocate. And I can’t do that! Do you know how hard it was to find a place in the middle of London that wasn’t on the lower end and had proper plumbing?” 

All in all, it seemed like he would be a good fit, or at least that was what Freddie reassured him. 

The following days he arrived at the parlor, politely titled “Killer Queens Ink” despite being opened by three men. He entered, the sound of men chattering filled the room. 

“Oy Bri! What do you think?” 

The one-man lifted the drawing, showing off the humanoid creature he had created. 

“Is that another robot?” The second man asked, squinting at the picture. 

“It’s an android. There is a difference, you know?” 

“I may know, but that doesn’t mean I care.” 

“Oh bugger off.” 

“Excuse me?” John spoke out, cutting between the two. 

“Customer!” 

The one holding the sketch pad with the dramatically accurate android turned, pushing his blond hair from his face. He smiled brightly, his eyes hidden behind his sunglasses. “Well, hello there.” 

“Hello. Is Freddie here?” 

“Bri! Does Fred have any appointments today?” 

Bri, the man who was currently behind his sketch pad, let out a loud huff. “Do I look like his assistant? Check the bloody board, Roger.” 

The blond, Roger it seemed, turned and looked at the whiteboard that was hanging against the far wall. It had different names under it, following specific dates and times which John calculated to be different appointments. 

“He doesn’t seem to be booked right now. But Freddie doesn’t do walk-ins, I’m afraid. You’ll have to call to book something. Bri over there can take you, however.” 

“Are you blind? I’m in the middle of something.” Bri gestured to the sketch pad he was hovering over. 

“A little. And I’m quite sensitive about it.” Roger snapped. “I could take you if you like.” He added, turning back to John. He paused and although his eyes were out of sight, John could practically feel the blond man looking him over. “I could definitely take you.” 

“I’m not here for a tattoo. I’m here for the job.”

A fair eyebrow poked over one of the dark sunglasses. “You’re the new hire?” 

“John!” 

All three men turned to see Freddie making his way through the back; the beads that were hanging in front of the door clattered together noisily. Freddie approached, coming to pull the other male in for a tight hug. “You’re early. That’s very punctual. I like that.” 

“Better early than late.” 

“But better late than never,” Freddie quipped. “Brian. Roger. Put down your pencils, I want you to meet our new friend.”

John noticed how both men, Brian and Roger, gave each other a quick look before approaching them.

“This tall and curly man here is Brian.” The dark-haired man gave him a welcoming smile, which John mirrored as they stretched hands. “And the small pretty is Roger.”

“Thanks, Fred! he replied as he lifted his sunglasses over his head. 

John couldn’t help but notice a lovely pair of light blue eyes staring back when they stretched hands. Maybe it was John’s imagination but he felt the man’s hand lingering a little bit more than it was usual in first encounters. Just that thought and the fact that he was still holding his gaze with a smug smile, made his blood rush to his face. 

He did what he always did in those cases and just ignored his probably bright red face. There wasn’t much he could do after all. That only helped the other’s smile grow bigger.

Since he was a child John’s ‘red face’ had given him troubles. His mother always knew when he was telling a lie, his teachers knew he had been running around the playground when he was not supposed to, he had also received some laughs or (at that moment) hurtful jokes too. When John realized there was nothing he could do to stop his face from telling him out he surrendered. 

“So, where were you working before?” asked Brian, genuine interest in his voice. “Freddie didn’t tell us much about you. He simply stated he adored your sketches.” He paused for a brief second “And you too.” Brian chuckled as he gestured John himself.

“I- this is my first ‘real’ job at a studio. I’ve been tattooing my mates from Uni but I wouldn’t count that as a job” he said honestly. It had been fun and in his honest opinion, he did a great job but they didn’t pay him to do it. It was a practice more than anything.

Both men in front of him frowned.

“You mean you don't have experience in the field?”

John felt his throat tighten but quickly cleared it. “Well, technically. That’s why I am very excited to start working here and-“

“Oh! Isn’t he adorable?” Freddie exclaimed as he wrapped his arms around John again. He smiled. John had noticed Freddie was more touchy than most people but in the most heartwarming way. Every sentence he said and every gesture he did seemed to come out of his heart in such a genuine way John couldn’t help but smile. 

When they met, Freddie’s shown him some of his works. Beautifully constructed watercolor pieces. Mostly flowers and cats. The first thought that came to John’s head when he’d seen the pictures was that the tattoo artist had put a lot of sentiment into them. Now he realized that Freddie probably did that with just about everything he did.

He liked that.

“If Freddie likes you, then you must be pretty special.” Brian decided. 

“The Force is strong with this one,” Roger called from his little corner, prompting Brian to roll his eyes. 

The sound of the doors draws him out of his thoughts.

Four heads turned in time to see two girls entering the place. 

“Uhm- hi, I wanted to get a tattoo?” 

They could not be more than eighteen.

From the corner of his eye, saw Brian and Roger smiled knowingly at each other.

“Sure, dear. Do you happen to have your ID with you?”

“Uhm…” the girl who had spoken started looking through his backpack and gave Freddie what he had asked her. “Here”

Freddie looked at the card in his hands, at the girl, and then at the card again before giving it back. “Did you have something in mind? You might need to book an appointment”

“Oh, I just wanted something small, like a heart with a letter inside”

He felt a pair of hands on his shoulders. “John will take you,” said Freddie, excitement in his voice.

He smiled at the thought of having his first proper customer. 

“Have fun” he quickly turned around to now see Roger behind him wearing a cheeky smile.

Freddie instructed him on where to find everything he would need and sat expectantly on the other side of the room. 

“Did you have any specific design on your mind?” He asked the girl “Do you want it to be black, with colors…”

“I- haven’t thought of it much. I just know I want to get a heart with an ‘R’ inside”

“Mhm…” John brought the pen he’d just grabbed from his bag to his mouth. Softly biting the cap, deep in thought. “Is the ‘R’ for… Robert“ he tried to guess, giving the girl a small, complicit smile. 

She chuckled “Oh no, Rose. That’s my mom’s name. She passed away last year and I want something to have her close all the time. Been thinking of doing this for months but I had to wait ‘till I was the age” 

John worried his lower lip and did his best to smile at the girl. He tried to swallow the knot in his throat as he nodded.

“I get it. That’s very nice of you. So, is there anything in particular that reminds you of her? An animal, a flower, an object ... ascent-”

“Oh! She always had lavender perfume on.” The girl’s smile grew wider “I thought it was too strong for me but I kind of love it now”

“Okay… give me a few minutes and I’ll have the design ready for you” He mumbled, already sketching on his notebook. He heard Freddie starting to chit-chat with the girl- Melissa. When he finished he showed the product to her and the little jump of excitement she did on her chair made him chuckle. 

He did a final version drawing and started to get everything prepared. It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary but he felt proud of it. The shape of the heart remained but instead of simple lines, the shape was done with a lavender flower on one side and with ‘Rose’ written in cursive on the other. 

“I love it love it love it. Thank you so much!” Melissa exclaimed as she hugged him goodbye.

“I’m happy you do! Just remember to take care of it, okay?”

“Awe. Look at our little Deacy getting love from a pretty girl.” Roger mocked from across the way. “You’re going to make Bri jealous if you keep that up.” 

“Do you ever shut up or is it a compulsive thing?” Brian asked from his little corner. 

“Just be aware Deacy, we have a strict  _ No Shag _ policy for those who come into the shoppe.” Roger mentioned, going to lean against the divider of the sections. “We had to take it into account because too many women kept coming to see Brian.” 

“Can you not blame it all on me? You had people dropping by too.” Brian replied sharply.

“Did mine cause a bloody catfight in the middle of our place?” Roger countered. 

“Children, please.” Freddie groaned, making his way from the backroom. “Roger is speaking the truth, however. If you find someone pretty you want to play with, please do so far you’ve worked on them and not during. We can’t keep having people drop by for some flirting. This is a business establishment, not a bloody singles lounge.” 

“I don’t think that will be a problem, Fred,” John admitted softly. 

“Oh? Are you seeing someone then?” Freddie asked, pausing beside Roger to look over at the young man. 

“No, no. I’m quite single, but I know better than to mix business with pleasure.” 

“Smart man we have here.” Freddie quipped. “All right gentleman, enough chit-chat. Back to your corners!” 

Roger sent John a wink before going back to his respected area, plopping down so he could carry on with his sketching. John looked at his empty little space and sighed, waiting for the next person to arrive. 


	2. Chapter 2

John found a nice middle ground over the next week and a half. His job was very simple: handle the walk-ins. For the most part, it was very doable. People would come in and he’d work on them. Sometimes it was quick and easy. People wanted what they wanted and he provided what they could. Sometimes they got into a bit of a huffy because they hoped to work with one of the others but had to settle for him. 

Freddie made it very clear that he didn’t work with walk-ins and Brian and Roger only did it it was worth their while. Brian liked very articulate pieces that took a lot of time and were usually based on some sort of interstellar artifact. Roger liked big pieces that took up a lot of time and space. 

John was used to being settled for so it wasn’t much for him to adjust to. He could handle the whining from the peanut gallery. Freddie mostly talked him up to anybody who questioned it, putting in a good word in his little community. John has no intention of having anyone come in and request him. But if he could have someone not roll their eyes or give a bit of a sigh that would be nice. 

He had begun to grow more comfortable in his surroundings. Freddie had made it quite clear that this would be his home, so John should treat it as such. As they all had their respective corners, John brought in a few things to decorate the place. Pictures of himself and his family. The artwork he particularly liked and a few sketches he had done in his free time. Little tinker toys that kept him busy as well as some album covers that he appreciated, though that sparked a bit of debate for them as it seemed they each had a different taste in music. 

The gang was pleasant enough for him to handle. Brian and Roger have their banter and Freddie was supportive in his way. They were a strange bunch but he liked them nonetheless. Peculiar group but nice to be around. Brian was smart as a whip and was able to hold a good conversation. Freddie was practically a bundle of nerves bunched up with excitement. And Roger . . . Roger was an enigma in his own right. 

Everything John did Roger had a comment. Never rudely or condescendingly. Oh no, he was as lovely as ever. Roger just liked to put himself into John’s business, invited or not. First, he had found out John had no tattoos of his own and the brunet thought the spunky bitch was going to keel over in a heartbeat. 

“How the  _ fuck _ can you be a tattoo artist and not have any damn tattoos?!” He demanded, his hands on his hips as he stood in the middle of the shoppe. 

They had been going over their ink when John revealed that he had nothing to show off. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to have a tattoo he just found them to be so. 

“I don’t want to get a piece done just for the sake of getting one. I want it to be meaningful and I just haven’t found anything that means much to me.” 

“What a sentimental gentleman you are,” Roger commented in a mocking tone.

“Says the man with a lightsaber on his arm.” Brian quipped. 

“That saber means a lot to me, you twat.” 

“Children, please! Stop picking on Deacy.” Freddie mentioned tiredly. “He’ll get a tattoo when he is ready.” 

“You hired a bloody virgin, Freddie. What the hell kind of shoppe are you running here?” Roger demanded. 

“Ey, better watch out, Deaks. Roge here lives popping cherries.” Brian teased, grinning wildly. 

“If you two don’t knock it off, I will cancel your upcoming appointments and you’ll be forced to take the day off.” Freddie threatened sharply. 

“It’s all right, Fred. I know they’re just taking the piss,” John mentioned gently. 

“Bri might be, though I’m quite baffled by it. How could you work in a field and not be tempted?” 

John just shrugged, not seeing why it was such a big deal. “I don’t see tattoos as novelties or something to collect, Roger. If I am going to get one, I want it to matter. To have real meaning behind it. And I just haven’t seemed to find anything that fits that.” He admits. 

“Well, when you do find it, I’d be honored to be the one to give it to you.” 

“See! Being someone's first is his damn kink.” Brian muttered to Freddie, winching when the man hit him. 

“Enough you two. I’m going out, but you better be sure you’re on time tonight.” 

“You’re the one always running late.” Roger reminded him. 

“Better late than never. Oh! Before I forget. John, tonight the boys and I are performing at Ridge Farm; you know that quaint little club in town.” 

“Performing?” 

“Our  _ band _ , Deacy! I swear, he doesn’t listen when we speak.” 

“No Roger, that’s just you he ignores.” Brian quipped. 

“Anyway, the performance is at eight and I already put your name down on the guest list, so I expect to see you there.” 

“What if I have plans?” 

“These are your plans, darling! Now, as I said, eight o’clock. Dress fun and don’t disappoint me. Ta-ta, darling!” 

John sighed as Freddie walked out of the shoppe, turning his head to look towards Brian. “Is he always like that?”

“Oh no. He was mellow today. He’s usually way more persistent.” Brian mentioned as the bell rang, indicating someone had entered. 

“Walk in, Deacy!” Roger shouted, prompting John to leap up from his seat to greet the newest customer. 

John went to the club, just as Freddie asked him to. He didn’t have much to do other than some laundry and sketches that had been on his mind, so taking a break to listen to some music wasn’t the worst thing he’s done. 

His name was on the list and he got himself a drink as he sat by the bar. A little after eight the three of them came on. Freddie had mentioned that they made themselves up a little band for fun. It wasn’t anything serious, just three lads who liked to jam. John enjoyed music well enough and he played the bass here and there. 

The music itself wasn’t terrible. They did a few covers and some original songs. Roger took the lead on a rather interesting tune that had to do with cars, but overall, it wasn’t anything worth bragging about. 

When they came around and sat together, Freddie had asked him what he thought. John tried to keep it simple as anything and just insist that it was fine. The band was fine. The music was fine. 

“Christ, John. Tell us how you feel.” Brian muttered bitterly. 

“You need more bass,” John mentioned to them, realizing it was just drums, guitar, and vocals. 

“Our former singer took his bass when he left,” Brian admitted, sipping at his glass. 

“Have you thought of a replacement.” 

“Well now, isn’t that a bright idea,” Roger commented, his tone mocking. “We’ve tried. Not that easy. We can’t just allow anyone in, you know. They have to have some talent.” 

“It’s just a bit of fun is all.” Brian cut in easily, placing his arm around a woman that he had seen around the shoppe once or twice. Her name started with a C . . . or maybe an A . . . it was so hard to tell really. 

Roger wasn’t lying when he said women flocked around them. They were a popular bunch, one that John didn’t know if he truly fit into just yet. 

“Just messing around is all.” Brian continued, placing his glass down on the table between them. “Don’t think we’ll ever make it big, though John is right. We should continue our search.” 

“I find your lack of faith disturbing,” Roger quipped, prompting Freddie and Brian to roll their eyes. 

“Cool it, Obi-Wan Kenobi,” Brian replied. 

“Oy! That’s a  _ Vader _ quote, you prat.” 

“Obi who?” John asked Freddie. 

“It’s from Star Wars, darling.” He replied, flicking his wrist dismissively. 

“He says it to Admiral Motti,” Roger explained. “In A New Hope. Episode four?” 

“I know what movie you’re talking about, but I’ve never actually seen it,” John admitted. 

There was a pregnant pause then. The whole dynamic shifted and John watched as the blond man before him turned slowly, as if he had been offended by the words he said. 

“Any of them?” Roger asked suddenly. “Or just the first one?” 

“I thought that was the fourth one?” 

“Three films, but it’s four, five, and six,” Brian explained. 

“What about one, two, and three?” 

“Unimportant and not worth our time unless they’re going to put someone handsome in them and no one is more handsome than Harrison Ford,” Freddie commented. 

“You’ve never seen a single Star Wars movie? Not even the damn Christmas Special on the telly?” 

“No?” John questioned carefully. 

Roger let out an audible sigh, snatching up his glass from the table. “Have you gone insane?” Roger asked Freddie suddenly. “He doesn’t have tattoos, he thinks our music is ‘just fine’ and he hasn’t seen a single Star Wars film. What kind of person are you letting into our shoppe?” 

“Well, I am sorry that I didn’t find the first Sy-Fy nerd and shove an application into his hands, Roger. Honestly, you’re making a fool of yourself. Stop being so hard on Deacy.” 

“How the hell have you not seen any of the fucking Star Wars films, they have been out since ‘77!” Roger demanded from across the table.

“I’ve been going to school, Roger. I’m so very sorry I didn’t pause my studies and take the night off so I could go to the cinema.” John replied in a light, yet mocking tone. 

“Don’t worry about him. He’s always been dramatic and that is a lot coming from me.” 

Roger leaned back in his seat, chugging his glass and pouting when he was finished. He stood after a moment, slipping out of sight as he wiggled his way through the crowd 

John finished his glass, placing it onto the table beside him. “I should head home. Church in the morning.” He said to the group. 

Both Freddie and Brian bid him a good night, and John left the club with his keys between his fingers. He didn’t drive, mostly because he wasn’t sure how much alcohol he planned on having. It wasn’t too bad of a walk, though the weather wasn’t exactly ideal. 

“Leaving so soon?” Roger called as he began walking down the lane. He stepped out of the shadows, a cigarette hanging from his lips. “Can I give you a lift?” 

“Haven’t you been drinking?” 

“Last time I checked, you can’t get a buzz from tonic water.” 

“It’s fine. Not too long of a walk.” 

“Perhaps, though, do you think you can outrun lightning?” Roger asked, a smirk threatening his lips. 

And just like that, the sky rumbled above them, foreshadowing the impending rain. John turned fully, gesturing for Roger to lead the way and before he knew it, he was in the car with his coworker, guiding him towards his apartment. 

“So have you never really seen any of the films or were you just fucking with me?” 

“To be honest, I’m just not much of a cinema goer. I’m sure that sounds odd, but I’m more of a novel type of person. I like to read and draw, maybe even write a little.” 

“You know they make movies about books, right?” Roger mentioned. 

“Are you done taking the piss out of me?” John demanded in a huff. “I swear. It’s like everything I do you find something wrong with.” 

“Oh come on, Deacy. I’m just having a bit of fun. You know how it goes. Gotta mess with the new guy so he feels welcome.” 

“Freddie has made me feel welcome. Even Brian has tried. You seem to find an issue with everything, from my tattooing to the way I style my hair.” 

“All I said was that tying it back seems like a waste of time.” Roger defended, placing his hands up as they waited for the light to change. 

“Brian’s hair is just as long as my own!” 

“Yes, but it’s also a lot fuller, so it mostly stays in place. You’re the one who keeps misplacing your bloody hair ties. Silly me for thinking you’d look nice with it cut properly.” 

Roger sighed, turning down the next street as John had instructed him too. 

“Look, I’m sorry, all right? I don’t mean to come off like a prick. I think you’re a great addition to the shoppe. I just like messing around. I promise to knock it off.” 

“Thank you.” John sighed, turning his head to look out the window. 

It was quiet for a long moment. Barely two minutes, however, and Roger was speaking again. “Do you think you’d like to see them?” Roger asked him. “The movies.” 

“Perhaps someday? You can pull up here,” 

“Thank you for coming tonight,” Roger mentioned as he pulled up to the curb. “It meant a lot to Fred. This is more or less a hobby for us all, but it’s always nice to see people come out and listen to us.” 

“I’m sorry if I didn’t seem very interested. You all played very well, even if that one song about the car is rather off-putting.” 

“And now you mock my lyrics!” Roger whined, throwing his hands up from the wheel. “I swear, I am starting to think you hate me, John.” 

“Goodnight, Roger.” Slipping out of the car, John made his way towards his apartment building. Roger shouted to him through the rolled down the window, telling him to have a good night and sleep tight. John flipped him off as he slipped inside. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, we have decided to make Roger a giant Star Wars fan. Not exactly sure why. Just thought it would be fun. 
> 
> By the way, it's 1985 here, in case we didn't establish that already. 
> 
> Please leave a comment to tell us what you think. Honestly, it means so much to us.


	3. Chapter 3

“You must be pretty proud of yourself.” John said as he waited for Roger to open the door to his and Brian’s apartment

It was clear that the group had been getting closer so when the invitation to come over after a shift was extended, John had no reason to say no. The flat itself was very simple. Two bedrooms, one bathroom, with a decent-sized kitchen and sitting room. 

“We work hard for this place, you know. Now that Fred and Tim moved out, it’s just Bri and I. It can get quite lonely.” Roger mentioned, prompting John to roll his eyes. 

“Come on, Deacs.” Roger nudged him on the shoulder as he turned on the lights “You should know by now that I always get what I want.”

And despite all his efforts, John’s cheeks turned a bit red when Roger winked at him after finishing that sentence.

“Is he always this insufferable?” He asked aloud. 

It has been about a week and a half since John had gone to the boys’ gig, meaning it had been about a week and a half since Roger had declared, quite dramatically if you asked him, that John had ”broken his heart”.

There were few things Roger was truly passionate about, as John had come to learn. 

1) Tattoos… obviously. Everything about them, getting them, making them, designing them. Tattoos were his literal livelihood and he didn’t handle them lightly. He had been known to comment on someone's idea, whether or not he deemed it fit. It made him quite unpopular at times, but it also showed how much he cared for his craft. 

2) Playing drums. Even if their band was just for some fun, Roger spent hours practicing and writing, wanting to perfect his craft. 

3) Cars. Especially the fancy and fast ones. His vehicle of choice was rather nice, even John had to admit. The Ford RS200 was the best car on the market, or at least that was what Roger had said while praising it. He had been saving up to buy something a tad more flashy, insisting that this was just an in-between vehicle. 

And finally,

4) Star Wars. This one was quite a surprise as Roger didn’t seem to come off as one of the stereotypical fans. He was fashionable and friendly. He loved sports and raved about all the different rock and roll bands he had seen or was planning to see. And yet with every given moment, he would praise the series, always preaching about the art of it, though it mostly went over John’s head. 

So when he’d found out that John didn’t have any ink on his skin and that he had not only missed the Star Wars wagon but deliberately never watched one after their release…. He lost his shit.

“So don’t you want to watch them just to know what everyone is talking about?”

“Depends. Who is everyone? You?”

Roger had gasped dramatically, placing one of his hands over his heart.

That had been just one of the many times where Roger brought up the subject, trying to convince the younger to watch the movies.

At first, it was… normal. Roger explained to him why he should watch them. He even had made a bullet point list. But then,  _ but then,  _ as he’d noted John was not giving in, he began to practically  _ pray  _ on him.

“John.” he’d heard a knock on the door on the bathroom door.

“Yes, Roger. I’ll be out in a moment.” 

“I was just thinking, perhaps you would like to stay for a bit? Watch something on the telly?” 

“Roger! Leave the poor kid alone.” He heard Brian’s voice from further away.

“Fuck off! I’m talking with John!”

“We invited him over to unwind after a busy day, can you leave the damn saga out of this?” Brian half-shouted. 

“Roger,” John sighed deeply as he opened the door to the bathroom. “I don’t care about all that silly shit. I like science fiction and all, but I’m just not interested.” 

“How do you know that unless you watch it?” Roger pestered, pouting as John moved past him. 

“Enough, Roger,” Brian cut in, moving to stand between them both. “John, would you mind looking at this sketch of mine? I need another opinion.” 

Roger sighed dramatically, going to toss himself onto the couch while John followed Brian into the kitchen to look over the sketch he had created. 

John did pay attention to what Brian was saying and to the drawing he had in front of his eyes, on the table. It was a beautiful piece. It seemed simple at first glance but he noticed all the attention to detail that Brian had put in. It was some constellation, John couldn’t quite say which one, with little stars around. It was an inverted tattoo so to speak, instead of coloring inside the lines, the outside of the constellation was painted, making a pitch-black background.

But he jumped a little bit when something was suddenly tossed over Brian’s work.

“Roger!” Brian snapped. “I am going to strangle you!” 

Although the cover was upside down, John didn’t even have to twist his head to read the title of the VHS tape currently on top of the artwork.

Roger shrugged it off. “It just fell there.”

“Oh, so it leaped from under the cabinet and onto the desk? Well, it must be magic.” 

“Don’t be dramatic. I left it on the counter and it must have fallen off.” 

John snorted at that and covered his eyes. He had to give some credits to Roger.

“You could have ruined my sketch, just be more careful!”

“But hey! Your sketch is not ruined. It’s still a beautiful piece of artwork.” he said as he grabbed the tape “as so is this” he now directed his gaze to John.

“Don’t you ever get tired?” Brian sighed quietly. 

“I don’t, Brian, because I have this movie to fuel me”

There was a pause then. Roger raised one of his eyebrows challenging Brian who was glaring. 

The tape was in Brian’s hand in the blink of an eye. 

“Give me that!” The genuine worry in Roger’s voice made John laugh loudly.

“I swear I’m going to throw it out the window if you don’t stop harassing John -- if you don’t stop harassing  _ me” _

“If you don’t give it back I am going to  _ ruin _ your red special”

There was another pause.

Brian stretched his arm and opened the window without breaking eye contact.

John could see the fear in Roger’s eyes. 

He kept laughing. “Come on, mate. The man is going to have a stroke.”

Brian looked at Roger and then at John. And then Roger again. A smirk appearing on his face. “You better thank John later,” he said as he offered the tape to the blond who snatched from his hand in a quick movement.

“Fuck you. How dare you? Honestly!” John kept hearing Roger insulting Brian as he stormed off to what John assumed was his bedroom.

“Has he always been that dramatic?” John asked curiously. 

Brian sighed, dropping back into his chair. “Since birth.” 

John stayed for about twenty more minutes before deciding to head home. He had laundry to fold and lunch to prepare for the following day. He stopped by Roger’s room before leaving, not wanting to head out without saying goodbye. 

Roger opened the door swiftly, tossing himself back onto his bed with easy. John took that as an okay to enter and did so. He looked around, inspecting Roger’s room carefully. 

It was exactly as he expected. A bit of organized chaos. He had a hamper that seemed a tad bit overflowed and a desk full of papers that were scattered around. John allowed himself to peak and saw they were all sketches Roger had come up with. 

In the corner was a bin filled with extra drumsticks and the walls were covered in posters. Some of the unique designs that John wondered were from Roger’s mind while others were of bands and movies. The biggest, of course, was of an original Star Wars poster that even John recognized. 

“Heading out, Deacy?” Roger asked, going back to his magazine. 

Music was playing. John didn’t know the song but even he could tell it was rock and roll. Probably from an American band or one he never heard of. 

“I have a bit to do at home. Don’t want to stay too late.” He explained.

“It’s your day off tomorrow, right? Quite exciting. Think you’ll do anything fun?” 

“Cleaning. Relaxing. Nothing out of this world.” John paused, looking over the poster. “Is that Harrison Ford? He’s quite popular now.” 

“Rather handsome too. Indiana Jones. Han Solo. Rick Deckard.”

“I don’t know who any of those people are.” 

“Characters, John. His most famous ones to date!”

“If you say so.” 

Roger was quiet for a moment, standing up off his bed and moving around the room until he was on the other side of the poster, standing across from John. 

“He’s rather handsome, don’t you think?”

“You’ve said that before,” John mentioned. “And I can’t say the picture does him justice but I’ll take your word for it.”

“Nice eyes. Short hair. Gorgeous and fit.”

“Seems like you have a crush Roger,” 

“A man can’t help himself,” Roger said, taking his eyes off the poster to look at John. “Some things in this world are just too pretty to ignore.” 

John shifted slightly, shrinking under Roger’s gaze. His eyes were bright and blue and shining, it wasn’t something that John was used to. 

He had been flirted with, by men and women, though the former weren’t usually as bold as Roger was. Then again, Roger had been known to tease and taunt. Freddie had instructed John not to take any of it seriously.

John knew better than to get involved with someone from the workplace. 

“I’ll see you on Monday, Roger.” He mentioned it to him. 

“See you then, John,” Roger replied. John ignored the way Roger’s eyes glazed over him as he walked out.

With a shout of goodbye to Brian, John slipped out the door and returned home. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still enjoying this? Please tell us down below! We survive off attention and vindication.


	4. Chapter 4

John was, to be honest with himself, a bit nervous as he got closer to the parlor. He came to a stop when he finally reached the entrance. 

He took one deep breath and unconsciously moved his hand to put a short strain of hair behind his ear.

As he opened the door he could hear the guys were already in. Freddie’s monologue being interrupted when he walked in.

“I’m just saying Roger, we already let you write a song about your bloody car, what else could you possibly have to write about? Oh! Hello, do you have an apple-“ he gasped as he covered his mouth with his hands “Oh, dear! What a look! I almost didn’t recognize you, Deacy.”

John gave him a shy smile, passing his hair through the back of his bare neck.

“I thought I would give it a try” he admitted. “Roger keeps insisting that it got in the way while working and that this way would be much comfortable” he shrugged “We’ll see today”

“I…” all eyes were on Roger now who started to speak only to trail off.

John chuckled nervously under Roger's scrutiny. He had been thinking of his friend's reaction to his new haircut since he had set foot in the hairdresser- no since he considered the idea of shortening his hair.

It happened last Tuesday. John had been bent over some boy’s leg, tracing lines of ink on it. His hair kept falling over his eyes and he kept blowing it off until he felt his hair being pulled to the back of his hair.

“Until when will I have to tie your hair up as if I were your mom?” He heard Roger’s voice behind him as he put his long waves into a bun. 

John had ignored the warm on his face and mumbled a “thank you”

But Roger had a point. And to his surprise, he quite liked what he saw in the mirror too. His new hairstyle framed his face nicely and it gave him a more boyish look. He still felt weird while brushing it and realizing there was so little hair. But he needed time to get used to that.

And no. It hadn’t been because of Roger’s comments about Harrison. And yes, it was a coincidence that he had had his hair cut very similar to the movie stars. It was very popular among the youngsters.

“It’s a nice change, John” Brian commented.

“Thanks” John took the compliment with a smile “So what were you discussing?”

“Well, I have this new song I want to play in the next gig, it’s about my beautiful Delilah, and Roger refuses to play it! Which is so unfair since- Roger, you okay?” All eyes were on Roger again who was still gaping at John.

John shifted a bit in his place. 

“Don’t you regret telling me to cut it?” The burnet asked teasingly although feeling a sting on his chest just by thinking of the possibility.

“I- no no” he quickly cleared his throat as his voice flattered “It looks great, mate! As always, I was right. Now if you’ll excuse me, I am going to the bathroom” 

“Can we please focus on the music?” Brian commented from where he was sitting in the corner. “The gig is in two days, we can’t be lollygagging about our setlist.” 

“No one is going to hire us if we sing a song about a bloody cat!” Roger replied, snapping back into focus. 

“Oh, but putting your cock inside a sports car is incredibly relatable.” Freddie snapped. 

“It’s a metaphor!” 

John held his hands up, making his way from the back room and to his corner so he could get to work. He sat patiently, working on a few sketches here and there until they grew busier. Both Freddie and Brian had appointments to work on and John himself was given a few customers.

He had begun to grow wary about his work at the shop, as the high demand for him wasn’t well, high at all and unless he started to do a handful of customers a day, which was incredibly unrealistic, then he wouldn’t make enough to continue staying in his apartment. 

The place was small enough and the rent wasn’t that bad, but compared to the money he made before and now, he’s had to take some personal cuts to be able to carry on living there. He stopped going out to the pubs and discos. Didn’t grab takeaway as often. He even sold a pair of his favorite shoes to a flea market to be able to have some extra cash. 

He wasn’t hurting, not yet anyway, but unless he got very popular very quickly and took on more detailed/more expensive pieces of work, he’d have to take up another job. 

After a good while of sitting and waiting or making the tiny little tattoos that barely cost a thing, he finally went into the back to have his break. He found Roger back there, lounging on the sofa and reading one of the graphic novels he seemed to have an abundance of. He rolled over automatically, smiling brightly upon seeing John. 

“John! What do I owe the pleasure?” 

“Just on my break, Roge.” He replied, going to sit down at the table across from him. 

Sitting up, Roger hopped to his feet, going to take the seat across from John at the table. “Have I told you how much I adore that haircut on you? Honestly! You look like a young Harrison Ford with that cut.” 

“I look nothing like him,” 

“You know I’ve been told I look like Mark Hamil? The English version of him, of course.” 

“Am I supposed to know who that is?” 

“He plays Luke Skywalker,” Roger answered dryly. 

“Ah.” John opened his can, sipping slowly at it as he leaned back in his seat. Roger was smiling at him still, smirking even. John continued to keep his expression blank, refusing to give in and show that Roger had any sort of effect on him. 

“You know, Deacy-” Roger began, stopping when Brian threw the door open. 

“John. The customer wants to speak to you.” He told him quickly. 

John stood, knowing that the customers come before his break, and went up to the front. Standing by his corner was a previous customer of his, whose name escaped him, though he remembered her as he had worked on a butterfly tattoo for her. 

“Hello. Welcome back,” He greeted, though she wasn’t as friendly. 

“The tattoo looks like shite,” She replied quickly, her accent heavy as she popped her gum. “You said the colors would pop as soon as it healed, but it looks like something I pulled from the bin.”

“Do you mind if I take a look at it?” He asked curiously. 

The girl rolled her eyes, thrusting her arm out to him. Right in the middle was the piece he had done for her. A black and white butterfly. Very simple, though it took up a good chunk of her forearm.

“Well, for one, you’re only a week out.” 

“I’m nine days out. That’s over a week.” She replied smartly. 

“Regardless. As I told you as I was wrapping it up, pieces like this could take up to three weeks to properly heal.” 

“You said it would be more vibrant after healing. This looks faded as shite!”

“It’s not fully healed,” John reminded her. “And I also told you that you could come back for touch-ups if you wanted it to be a bit brighter, however, the shades you chose are very light.” 

“Black is not a light color, moron.” The gum chewer commented. 

“It’s not even a color. It’s a shade.” Roger quipped, coming over to the corner. “White is also shade. And seeing as you’re a white woman, the chances of it popping out are very slim.” 

“Then he should have done it a different color!” 

“You asked me for black and white. It’s specifically the type of butterfly you asked me to create.” John had looked up exactly the type of butterfly the girl wanted and made sure to create it to size and make sure the shading was as identical as possible. 

In reality, the tattoo looked fine. It could use a touch-up, of course. Perhaps a bit of shading, but overall, John had been pleased with it and the woman seemed to like it once finished. She had no complaints at the time. 

“Have you been taking care of it?” Roger asked. 

“I wash it, just as told.”

“With fragrance-free soap? And lotion? You can’t use anything with perfume in it.”

“I only have one type of lotion!” 

Roger reached out, grazing his fingers across her tattoo. The woman jerked back as if he had burnt her. “Are you fucking mad! Keep your hands off me. Bloody fairy.” 

“Excuse me. There is no need for name-calling.” John told her quickly. 

“Are you going to fix it or not?” 

“There is nothing he can do, darling,” Freddie called from his corner. “Come back in two weeks when it’s properly healed and he’ll give you a touch-up. Until then, kindly leave the shop, we have other customers to attend to.” 

The woman scowled, sending Freddie a harsh glance. “Fuck it. I’ll have a professional fix it. Make it better. And I’ll make sure everybody knows this place is absolute shite run by a bunch of fucking poofters!” 

“Ta-ta darling!” Freddie called as she made her way out the door, waving kindly as he went back to his client. 

Roger placed his hand on John’s shoulder, consoling him gently. John shook his head, making his way back to finish the rest of his break. 

The remainder of his shift went along well enough, though John was happy to be home at the end of the day. He had hoped to unwind but found himself bothered by all the woman said. Calling him unprofessional and a poofter. He rarely allowed cruel words to get to him, but he found that those cut deeper than expected. 

John had uprooted his entire life so that he could have this job and now he was starting to wonder if it had all been for nothing. He tried to go over it in his mind and see if there was nothing he could have done differently. Perhaps go over the shading a few more times to make it more noticeable. It would have taken more ink, far more than the tattoo was worth, but perhaps then she could have been pleased with his work. 

John was mulling over it while on the couch when he heard the knock on the door. He was listening to his records, perhaps a bit too loudly, and he was sure his neighbor was coming to demand he turn it down. 

When he opened the door, he found Roger there, hold a paper bag in his arms and his sunglasses over his eyes despite it being well into the night. 

“Are you honestly sitting home alone listening to the fucking BeeGees?” He asked as soon as the door opened. 

“It’s a classic album, Roger.” 

“It’s a fucking disco and I refuse to allow you to stoop so low,” Roger answered, moving passed John so he could enter the flat, placing his bag onto the coffee table. 

John walked over, cutting the record just as the chorus cut in. “What are you doing here?” 

“You spent the last few hours of your shift sulking and I have a feeling that you’d be doing the same as soon as you returned home. Therefore, I decided to come and keep you from feeling that way.” 

Rummaging through the bag, he began removing all the contents. There was beer, snacks, and a tiny pint of ice cream. It looked as if Roger had ransacked a Tesco, grabbing anything he could to make something of a survival care package. 

“You didn’t have to do this,” John mentioned. 

Roger turned, opening the beer easily. He handed it over to John before opening his own. “I know. However, that woman was completely mental and I think we deserve a nice treat after having to put up with her.” 

“You don’t have anything better to do tonight?” 

Roger waved him off, going to plop down onto the couch. “Nah. Fred and Brian are going over the setlist for tomorrow’s show. I told them to just pick for me. I’ll play whatever they choose.” 

“Are you nervous?” 

“Nah. Just another pub gig. Nothing too exciting. Shall we find something to watch? Maybe some crappy reality show where people throw things?” 

John thought it over, his fingers itching to grab the remote but he stalled, thinking it over. “You know, I own a tape player.” He mentioned, gesturing to the machine on top of the telly. “We could go down to the shop. Rent something to watch.” 

Roger beamed at the idea, lifting his sunglasses to reveal those shimmering blues that John had gotten comfortable seeing daily. “I have a better idea,” 

He hurried out of the flat, returning shortly after with a tape in his hand. “I always have a copy on me in the car. Just in case.”

John didn’t even have to ask. He just sighed in retreat, going to sit back onto the couch as Roger set the tape up. He was a giddy as a school girl getting asked out to the night disco. John was almost amused by it. “Have you seen this like eighty times?” 

“Close to it, but it’s always exciting watching it with someone who hasn’t seen it,” He mentioned, plopping back onto the couch beside John. 

John sighed, taking a sip of his beer as the music played and the text crawl began. Overall, he had to say, he didn’t hate the film. He quite enjoyed it. John had always been a fan of science fiction and grand adventures. Star Wars, or as it was called Star Wars, Episode 4: A New Hope, was a decent watch in John’s book. 

Of course, he couldn’t let Roger know that. Oh no. That would be too simple. Giving in to him and giving him the ability to know he dragged another person into liking the series would do far too much to Roger’s ego. 

So when it was over and Roger turned to look at John, with a giant smile on his face, asking him what he thought, all he could do was shrug. “It was good.” 

His smile fell automatically, replaced with a scowl. “Good!? It was bloody brilliant!” 

“I liked it well enough,” He mentioned.

“You have to see the final two. The whole trilogy is life-changing.” 

John hummed, watching Roger fondly. The way he spoke about something so simple like a series of films was fascinating. John had never been into anything that would convey such emotion. So much passion over something that in reality, didn’t matter. 

“You didn’t have to do this, you know,” John told him gently. 

“Do what?” 

“Come over here. Bringing the beer, and the snacks, and watch a film with me.” 

Roger sat back after grabbing the tape, placing it carefully onto the coffee table. “Perhaps not. But I understand what it is like to have crap days. We work in the service industry. It’s our job to give people what they want and yet they still treat us like we’re their bloody servants. That bird was out of line, John. We both know it. Her damn tattoo had water damage on it. Looked like a fucking moth.” 

“Now you are just being mean,” John laughed softly. 

“Look, we’re mates, aren’t we? It’s our job to look out for one another. If I see someone I care about looking like they’re about to jump off the ledge, then it’s my job to pull them back. Just as I hope you’d do the same for me.” 

“I highly doubt I looked that broken up about it.” 

“It’s a metaphor, John.” Roger pointed out, standing from the couch. “I bet be off. I have a ten am appointment. I’ll be doing the detailing on a bloody catfish. Can you believe some of the things people put on their bodies?” 

Shaking his head, Roger slipped his sunglasses on, ignoring the darkness outside as he waved John off. The brunet remained on the couch, just sitting in silence before pushing himself into motion so he could begin the cleanup process and then head to bed. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell us in the comments below if you've ever had a terrible customer. Lord knows I have!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, lovelies! We hope everyone is doing well during this very trying time. Stay positive, right?

John woke up with a smile the next day. Yes, that sounded silly but it was the truth. Even though Roger had been putting all his energy into making John watch Star Wars, he knew that wasn’t the reason why he had come to John’s door last night. 

And that made him stupidly happy. John no longer felt as if Roger hated him, he now knew he just liked to tease without harm behind it, but the feeling that Roger thought of him as a young and naive boy who only did ‘child drawings’, as he had once put it, was gone. 

It had been for a while now but last night’s gesture had confirmed it.

He took his time to have breakfast and do a bit of cleaning. When he came into the parlor he could already hear the sound of the tattoo machine, which meant Roger was already working.

John had just left his coat in the backroom when he felt arms wrapping around him.

”Oh, Deacy! I’m so sorry about what happened yesterday! I spent all night thinking I should have said or done something more!”

John chuckled softly ‘It’s alright, Fred. But thank you anyway’ he twisted his head a bit ao he could smile at his friend.

“Ugh, what a despicable woman!” He continued having freed John from the embrace. He leaned back on the couch and threw his head back with a sigh. John smiled fondly at Freddie’s actions. He did like to be a bit dramatic. ”To blame it on you when your work is so amazing and she even insulted Roger! Unbelievable”

”It’s okay. That was yesterday, let it go”

“Ugh, you sound like Jim. Maybe you both are right but it’s so hard!”

“Jim?” John asked curiously

“My boyfriend- oh! I’ll have to introduce you. You’ll get along just well. He is also a virgin, you know”

”Uhm…” John could feel his face getting hotter ”I’m not a virgin Fred”

“Oh no dear, not like that! He doesn’t have any tattoos either, that’s what I meant.”

John let out a loud laugh ”Okay, good to know. How are you feeling for today’s gig, by the way?”

“Splendid, as always. You’ll have to come, of course”

John chuckled “Of course”

“Roger can pick you up if you need to”

“That’s alright, I can take the bus”

“I simply won’t allow that so don’t fight it. You can come earlier and watch us prepare.” Freddie’s eyes lit up “I can even do some makeup on you! That would be fun.”

John smiled back at Freddie once again before leaving to where Roger was working. His brows were in a frown, so concentrated on the lines of ink he was tracing he didn’t even look up to acknowledge John.

He took this little moment and took advantage of it. Leaning on the wall John observed the blond working. He was wearing a bandana to keep the shorter strands of hairs outside of his eyes and he had to admit, it looked good on him. Now, almost everything looked good on him. John had once seen Roger wearing leopard pants and a jacket that ‘went’ with it.

It was ridiculous and Roger still managed to look… well… hot. 

John knew Roger’s playful flirtation would never go beyond what it was: a game. He still played into it, it was fun and if he wanted to he could pretend it would lead to something more.

He just had to make sure not to hurt himself in the process. But if he kept that in mind, that it was just teasing, everything would be fine. 

Meanwhile, he could look all he wanted. And picture whatever he wanted. There was no harm in that, right?

Roger’s lips looked so soft it would be a sin not to think what it would be like to kiss them, to trace them with his tongue. 

“You alright there, mate?”

Roger’s voice made him come out of his trance. 

He swallowed and gave him a shy smile. “Yeah, I just wanted to inform you that you have to come and pick me up and take me to the gig. Freddie’s order.”

“Freddie’s order, huh?” He nodded simply. “What do I get in return?” Roger asked playfully and he shrugged in response.

“Dealer’s choice”

Roger pursed his lips. “Mmm… let me think, what could it possibly be? Mmm- oh! You have to let me show you Episode V!”

John sighed and rolled his eyes in a way he hoped Roger knew he was joking. “All right then. Only seems fair since I rented it on the way here.”

Roger stopped on his track. He looked up at John's mouth and eyes wide open. “Deacy! I bloody well own it! Please don’t tell me you were planning on watching it without me.”

John opened his mouth to reply but he was cut off by Brian calling his name. He gave Roger a final smile and went to the parlor’s entrance

“John, you have a customer.” He turned his head and saw a young man, maybe a bit older than him, giving him an expectant look.

“Hello there. Can I help you?”

“You’re John?” He asked him curiously. 

“That’s me.” 

“Friend of mine said you were pretty good. Don’t have much in mind, but he recommended you.” 

John frowned at that. “Me?” Why would someone ask for him? The others were usually the ones requested, having to book appointments and all.

“Yeah, Peter, my friend, studied engineering with you”

John nodded with a smile “Oh yes, I remember him. Did he say nice things about me?”

“He showed me a few sketches you gave him and they were fantastic. Besides, some people in my classes got nice little pieces done by you too. I was thinking maybe I could see your sketches and choose from there? Or is that something you don’t do?”

What did John do? He wasn’t used to this praise and faith in his drawings.

“Sure, let me grab my book and I’ll show you” he went to pick it up from his bag. “These are my latest, there isn’t much of a theme so if you see a style that you like but not the design itself, we can modify it as he went through the pages.

“I don’t have many here but we could set a time another day for you to go over some others” 

“I like what I’m seeing but I would like to see some others, maybe over coffee?”

John nodded enthusiastically “Yeah, of course. Let me give you my number and we can coordinate” he wrote it down on a paper and gave it to him. They said their goodbyes and agreed to meet up soon.

“Ooooh, Deacy’s got a date!”

John sighed and shook his head disapproval at Freddie. “I don’t. But it’s nice to have someone come and ask for you because they like your work”

“Don’t change the subject, you have a date.” He could expect that from Freddie but Brian too?

“Who’s having a date?” Roger, of course.

“Good. We all are here”

“Deacy’s got a date”

“It’s for work! He is a friend of a friend who saw my drawings and decided to get one, which is a super nice and fulfilling feeling, thank you very much” he couldn’t keep the smile off his face. Someone had asked for him!

Roger was frowning at him “but why a date?”

“I agree to show him more art over coffee,” he explained.

“So… on a date”

“No!” he exclaimed, getting more annoyed as the seconds went by.

“He could come to the shop at literally any working hour, it’s not that complicated, Brian!”

“Ugh, Rog, don’t ruin it for John”

“He is not ruining anything, I am just going to show him some of my work so he decides what to get. Don’t need to raise your voice like that”

“Do we not have a rule about dating clients?!” Roger snapped, looking towards Freddie. “Did you not have Brian choose between going to the cinema with that redhead from Biba or his corner in the shop?” 

“Yes, but that was mostly to reel him in,” Freddie said dismissively. 

“You can’t enforce something onto us and then allow John to do it all willy-nilly. That is bullocks and you know it!” 

“It’s not a date Roger,” John insisted carefully. “We’re going to discuss his tattoo. You’d have clients come back to talk about work.” 

“Yeah, in the shop, in my corner. Not out in the real world!” 

“I don’t know why you’re getting so worked up over it. I’m not stealing your thunder or anything Roger. He liked my work. People are allowed to want me to tattoo them, Roger. People are allowed to like me.” 

“I never said they couldn’t!” The blond snapped at him, his hands falling to his hips. “We have rules, Deacy. And rules, as I have been told by every single one in this place, are put in place for a reason.” 

“We were just teasing him, Roger. Do you think John would do anything unprofessional?” 

“All I am saying is that if you, and I, and Freddie have to stick to the rules, so does John.” 

“It’s not a date,” John mentioned though he felt like he was saying it to the air. He threw his hands up, knowing damn well that it wasn’t worth arguing over. 

He wound up calling Peter later that night, using the chance to get the other man’s number. James, as his name turned out to be, agreed to come back to the shop so they could discuss the tattoo on the property rather than over coffee. 

They sat together in his corner, looking through his pieces and finally settling on one. It seemed James was flirting just a bit, but John made it clear that he had no intention of doing anything other than tattoo the guy. There was a visible expression of disappointment on his face, but he still agreed to have John work on him. 

He arrived home later than planned, wanting nothing more than to just crash and be left alone. He was ticked off at the group for making such a big deal over nothing. He didn’t see why Freddie had to make it into nothing, only for Roger to get all up in arms over it. 

Instead, he was slapped with a warning posted right on the door of his flat. He had forgotten to pay the rent, and while he wasn’t going to automatically be kicked out, the warning came with the reminder that all late payments would be charged a fine. 

Scrambling all he had, John went down and paid it, deciding that he would no longer be taking the bus for the next few weeks just to be able to make ends meet. He settled on his bed feeling bluer than ever, almost forgetting about the giddy feeling he had woken up feeling, and fell asleep wondering if any of this was even worth it. 

He woke only when he heard the banging on his door and forced himself out of the bed, ignoring the way his stomach tightened having skipped out on dinner and gone right to bed. When he opened it, Roger was standing there, dressed to impress just like every other time he and the others were set to perform. 

“I’m not going, Roger,” John said automatically. 

“Like hell, you’re not. I drove over here. Come on now, get dressed so we can head out.” 

“I don’t want to go,” John replied simply. “I am not in the mood.” 

“Not in the mood?” Roger mimicked. “You’re going to watch a band. What kind of mood do you think you have to be in?” 

“A better one than I am now,” John replied, moving closer to close the door, though Roger stopped him. 

“Is this because of the bloke? Deacy, I’m not trying to cockblock you, but we have rules.” 

“I don’t care about your rules, Roger!” John hissed out, raising his force slightly. Even though the sunglasses that were always on Roger’s face, he could see his eyes widening. “Look, I don’t have time for this, all right and neither do you. Just go to your show.” 

“Not without you.” 

“I told you I don’t want to go!” 

“Well, I am not going unless you go. So either you come with me or Fred and Brian will be working with guitar and vocals only.” 

“What is it with you?” John demanded. “Are you honestly so used to getting what you want that you can’t take anything seriously?” 

“To a degree.” 

“Well guess what, Roger. I don’t get what I want. Ever!” 

“What is that supposed to mean?” 

“I go to school to learn electrical engineering and I am unfilled. I go back to learn design. I get a job at a shop and I am nothing more than a walk-in artist. I get yelled at for not doing a good job. I finally do have a recommendation and automatically I am informed that I can’t have the slightest bit of interest in the performance or I’ll lose my chair! I was late on rent and can’t take the bus for the next month because I can’t afford it.

“Everything I have worked for is blowing up in my face and now you’re here demanding that I do what you want because you think it’s fucking Roger’s world! Well, it’s not your world, Roger. This is the real world and sometimes hard work leads to nothing but disappointment.” 

“John-” 

“No, Roger!” 

There was a heartbeat of silence there. John lifted his hand, pinching the bridge of his nose tightly as he trained to regain focus.

“Just go, Roger.” 

“Deacy.” 

“Just. Go.” 

Roger stood there a moment longer, waiting around to see if something would change, but it never came. Instead, he pushed himself back out the door, away from the flat and away from John. The brunet closed and locked the door behind him, dragging himself back to bed hoping for the last time that night. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please tell us what you thought down below! We adore this story as much as you and we thrive on knowing we're doing well!


	6. Chapter 6

A couple of days went by after his incident with Roger. The blonde himself had a day off after the gig, so when he arrived to work the next morning he didn’t have to confront anyone. He was a bit scared of what Freddie and Brian would say, he wasn't naive enough to think Roger would have kept his mouth shut so he wasn’t looking forward to his friend's pity looks and words.

Surprisingly (and thankfully), Roger hadn’t told the others what had happened, instead, he’d said John had a big headache and barely could open his eyes. John sighed in relief 

It was a good thing Roger had been on his day off because he still felt… angry. He knew he shouldn’t have lashed out at Roger as bad as he did. After all, other issues were causing him distress at the moment. But the way Roger acted… as if everything had to be done in his way, at his time. And yeah, it had hurt him deeply how Roger acted with the James situation. He felt he was never going to be good enough for him, that his work could be done by a toddler. He knew Roger didn’t think much of his pieces but he never thought he thought this little.

The following day was his day off. He decided to get up early and go looking for apartments. That was probably the worst idea he had had in a while. It only got him more anxious. Almost every place he saw had an issue. You name it, no hot water, no physical place to put a bed, no stoves, lousy neighbors. If it seemed fine, the place was way too expensive or too far away from work. He even thought of sharing the place with someone but not many advertisements were up for that. And to be honest he didn’t feel like sharing a place with some stranger.

Monday found John dreading getting up and going to work. He knew it was silly but he wasn’t ready to face Roger. Now, he was not as angry as he had been but the sentiment hadn’t gone away. And above that now he felt ashamed of having yelled at him the way he had, (even though he still thought he had been right in doing so).

Despite wanting to stay in bed as long as he could he made his way out of the house. He still needed to get used to leaving earlier. The shop wasn’t that far away from his place but he didn’t like to rush. If he was going to have to walk to work at least he was going to enjoy it, take his time. 

Turned out, he wasn’t ready to see the blond. He could feel his throat tightening with words he wanted to say, or better, yell, at him as soon as he saw him. And Roger must have sensed this because as soon as the locked eyes, he quickly looked down at whatever comic he was reading.

This, of course, made John even angrier. Who did he think he was? Who gave him the right to look like a fucking guilty… puppy? John was caught between thinking that of course, Roger should feel guilty, but at the same time, he just looked so down and out. He felt terrible for him, even if he was still somewhat annoyed with him. 

“John,” Roger mentioned after a few moments. He approached carefully, like a creature approaching a trap. “Got a minute?”

“What is it, Roger?” John asked, not looking up from where he was emptying his bag. 

“Do you have any appointments today?” 

John finally looked up, noticing how fragile Roger seemed. Like he was waiting for John to snap or bark or have any sort of angry reaction. “No Roger. I don’t take appointments, remember? Just walk-ins.” 

“Right! Right, right. Would you mind if I just . . . walked in?” 

“I’m sorry?” 

“I was hoping to have some details added to my saber” Roger mentioned. “Buttons and such. Usually, Brian does it, but he’s busy working on something and you are our itty-bitty tattoo specialist.” 

“You want me to tattoo you?” 

Roger nodded enthusiastically and John narrowed his eyes in response. “Are you playing a joke on me?”

“No! I’m being a hundred percent honest. Cross my heart. I have a bit of free time and I want to give this tattoo its final details, you know?”

“Right”

“So? Will you do it?”

John worried about his lower lip for a moment before nodding.

“Great, thanks, Deacs! I’ll show you what I want and I’ll wait for you to have everything ready” he patted the burnet in his back before going back behind the counter and looking for, John assumed, a picture of a lightsaber. 

When he found it he passed it to John with a smile. He then extended his arm for John to see the ink drawing “ I was thinking of adding those here and here” he explained “Of course I would like it to be as this drawing but don’t be afraid to add your mark. And by that, I’m allowing you to draw nice things and not to bite me- well,” he paused and locked eyes with John, confidence back all over his face “That is unless you want to” John was glad Roger immediately looked back to his arm after winking at him because John started to feel his face heat up.

John cleared his throat. “Okay. Let’s start with this”

He wondered if there’ll ever be a time when he didn’t get flustered by Roger’s minimal flirting. John knew Roger was just teasing but he couldn’t stop his heart from racing a little bit too fast and his cheeks going a little bit too red.

Roger was an attractive man and, even if it was just teasing, John enjoyed the compliments that came from him. 

However, the burnet couldn’t help wondering if it was just teasing. 

Which it was. But John liked to play with the idea of the opposite being true, there wasn’t anything wrong with that after all. Just thinking about other scenarios wouldn’t hurt anybody. Thinking of pressing his lips against the blond to finally know how they felt didn’t hurt anybody. Right?

Would they be soft? A bit rough? 

His thoughts were interrupted by Roger moving along John’s corner, going to sit down in the chair. He pulled off his shirt, placing it onto the counter. In reality, all he would have to do is roll off the sleeve, but the blond just waved him off, ensuring him it’s easier this way. 

Brian looked up after the moment, his head cocked as he watched John prep Roger. “Is that your saber?” 

“Aye. John is going to add all the little details I drew up.”

“Are you sure you don’t want me to do it? I know how particular you are with that one.” 

John paused his movements, not wanting to overstep. 

Roger shook his head, flexing his arm so John could continue the preparations. “No, no. It’s alright. You have your stuff to work on.” 

“I can take a break if you like, Roge.” 

“No. Brian. You have to work on your projects.” Roger hissed out sharply. “Besides, isn’t John supposed to be a professional when it comes to unrequited details?” 

Brian put his hands up in defeat, deciding it was best to just let Roger have his way. Roger turned back to John, smiling brightly as he went right into their conversation. John got to work, adding all the tiny details onto the saber that Roger had requested. 

At first, when Roger mentioned he wanted him to work on him, he thought he was doing it as a way of asking for forgiveness. Roger didn’t seem like the type of person whose ‘sorry’ came very easily. He hadn't even thought of the implications of him asking John to work on a Star Wars tattoo until Brian’s comment. It was a clear and honest sign of trust in John and his work. Even if it wasn’t much work, it meant a lot to him.

He looked up at the blond and offered a kind smile that was returned. He cleaned the extra ink from the arm and asked: “Is it going alright?”

“Yeah yeah, I’m loving it. It already looks a hundred percent better with those details”

“Okay, thanks”

  
Freddie was rambling on about their next big gig, insisting that John could not miss the next one or it would throw off his entire groove knowing his mate wasn’t there to support him. “Honestly Fred, it’s not that I don’t want to, but I don’t have the time or money to constantly go out.” John finally admitted. 

“I’m dealing with the rent of my flat and the fares on the buses just went up. I’m already cutting it pretty close. I don’t even know if I’ll have electricity the following month if I don’t start taking in more clients.” 

“You could always move in with Jim and I. We usually let the cats sleep in the spare room, but we could make room for you darling.” 

Roger jerked away then, so quickly that John thought he had hurt him with the tattoo needle. “How could I be so daft!” He claimed, shifting in his seat to look at John. “Brian and I need a new flatmate.” 

“Huh?” 

“We are! I’ve been putting it off for weeks, but the rent has gone up again. It’s been so hard with just the two of us, you see. Ever since Fred and Tim moved out. And just the other day, the landlord informed me that if we don’t take in a third, we’ll be tossed out on the street!” 

“I’m sorry, he said what now?” Brian asked from his corner. 

“Nothing Bri, this is between John and me.” 

“But I…” Freddie reached forward, patting Brian’s shoulder to console him, all the while Roger continued to show remorse for the situation he was presenting to Deacy. 

“It wouldn’t be any more than what you’re paying now. Even less, actually! And we could ride together to work in the morning, so you wouldn’t have to worry about the bus.” 

John considered it for a moment “Roger, are you sure about this?” 

“We can even share a room! Or you could bunk with Bri if that is what you prefer. It’s only a two-bedroom flat, but you’d be saving our arses, Deacs.” 

“And Brian? You’re all right with this?” 

“I honestly have no idea what's going on, but if Roger is happy, then I guess I am too.” 

“I would be very happy! And so would you, John. No more sitting in the dark or skipping out on meals just to get by.”

“I mean, you do live closer and your flat is very nice.” 

“So then it’s settled then! We’ll move you this weekend!” 

Freddie whined from the corner, his arms crossing over his chest. “You are making me wish I haven’t moved out.” 

“Seeing as you and Jim used to fornicate every night, I am sure you prefer living with him over us, Fred. But don’t worry, we miss you too.” Brian mentioned, patting his pal on the back gently. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We hope you're enjoying this! And we also hope you're all staying home and staying safe during these very strange times! Please feel free to tell us what you think down below.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys. So. Long time no see. 
> 
> Listen. Real-life sucks. 
> 
> But we love you. And we love these boys. 
> 
> Happy shipping!

If you had told Roger he was going to be up and running about at 7 in the morning on a Sunday, he would have laughed. Sunday mornings were for sleeping, obviously, and for recovering from the headache one might have after a good night out. There might also be time for other activities if one had gone home with a companion.

But Roger hadn’t gone out yesterday night, neither had he drunk or had company over. He had gone to sleep early, hoping to get a good amount of hours sleep so in the morning he wouldn’t feel like shit.

That wasn’t the case. He felt like a truck had run over him. And according to John, he looked like it too. 

“Tough night?” he asked him with his eyebrows frowned but with a small smile on his face. John moved to the side and let the blonde enter his apartment.

Roger groaned in response “No. I went to bed right after dinner but I wasn’t able to rest properly” And he wasn’t going to say but in theory, it was John’s fault. As they had democratically decided, John was supposed to move in with him and Brian that weekend. He had offered John his car for the move in so he wouldn’t have to waste any money on a moving truck or anything of sorts. 

John needed to leave his apartment by that Sunday afternoon so that meant having to do the work in the morning. Hence, why he was at John’s place at exactly 7:30 am.

And no, he wasn’t mad at himself for having offered or at John for having accepted. He was quite excited. But you see, that was his problem, he was a little bit too excited. He had woken up several times during the night thinking about the move in. Not about the process of it, that was just taking some boxes from point A to point B. Easy. 

But the thought of his new friend living in the same apartment as him made him… well… very happy. He couldn’t wait to share with John all his favorite films (aside from Star Wars) and his favorite comics. He was already thinking of asking for John’s opinion on some of his songs. Yes. He could do all of this even if they didn’t live together but it just made things easier, you know?

On the other hand, Roger was a bit nervous about screwing things up. He knew he was a bit (much) hot-headed and not very easy to live with. Well, that was according to Freddie and Brian. And his sister. Nonetheless, he maintained great relationships with all of them so it wasn’t that bad. And even though he and John had already had their first altercation, things had been going smooth these last few days. 

And he intended to keep things that way. The anger and hurt in John’s voice and his greyish eyes were still a little bit too fresh in his memory and it made him feel a pit in his stomach. He promised himself would try his best not to put him that upset again.

Now, the blonde wasn’t going to tell any of this to his friend, he wouldn’t want to scare him off right before they started living together. So he just focused on helping John to get his boxes and bags into the car. He couldn’t help but notice that while he only had one (kinda big) suitcase with clothes and a box with his footwear, he had several boxes labeled as ‘Comics’, ‘Books’ and ‘Journals’.

Two trips and John already had all his stuff at Roger and Brian’s apartment. Although Roger still felt nervous about the new living situation, he was more than excited. He couldn’t erase the smile he’d been carrying since he took one of John’s (very heavy) boxes out of the car.

“What the hell do you have in here, Deacs? A drum kit?”

John chuckled softly and shook his head “No... some tech stuff, an amp, some cables”

“Oh, that’s right! I forgot you were an engineer nerd” he said playfully, hoping to get a smile out of John. He succeeded.

“You are one to talk! You can’t shut up about Star Wars!”

“That’s a different type of nerd, a cool nerd.”

“Sure, mate. Anyways...Uhm, thank you for this. I could tell you don’t enjoy waking up so early so- ehm” he watched as John worried his lower lip and looked at his feet “Thanks for the help.” he finally looked at Roger “I appreciate it”

Roger felt his stomach turn around at the sight of the burnet’s tooth-gaped smile. “No worries, Deacs. It’s the least I can do. You are saving mine and Brian’s arse”

John responded with a lopsided smile “You know… at some point, I thought you were doing this because you were feeling guilty about what happened”

“I mean, I was feeling pretty guilty, to be honest, I never got to properly apologize. I’m sorry if I ever made you feel like your opinions didn’t matter or like you were less important than anyone else at the shop.”

“Rog, there’s no need to-”

“Yes, there is.” he took a deep breath. “I shouldn’t have insisted for you to go out that night and I sure as hell shouldn’t have reacted the way I did when- uhm.. you know. I don’t why I yelled like that but you didn’t deserve that, I’m sorry. You should know that we all think you’re very talented. Do you think I would let anyone touch my lightsaber?” he added teasingly as he bumped his shoulder with John’s, getting a shy chuckle from the other.

Roger also could not help to find the reddish color on John’s cheeks adorable. And he said so “There’s no need to feel modest about it, it’s the truth, although I do adore that blush of yours”

The brunet just shook his head giggling in response before changing the subject, which Roger also found adorable “So how is the tattoo healing?”

The blonde allowed himself to stare a few more seconds before speaking again “Yeah, good. It still has a bit to go but it’s good”

They finished getting everything into the apartment in comfortable silence and Roger wondered if John was feeling just as excited as he was. Probably not. But at least he looked content.

“So… you can start unpacking whenever you want. I have to go to the studio a bit for an appointment- it’s going to be a hard piece and the woman couldn’t come at any point during the rest of the week so I offered her to do it this Sunday” Roger clarified when he saw John’s frown. 

“Oh, okay. So where should I…” he trailed off as he pointed around the apartment, Roger chuckled.

“Yeah, well. As you know, there are only two bedrooms. We do have that beautiful and uncomfortable old sofa but I won’t let you sleep there. So, it’s either mine or Brian’s.. but I know for a fact that Brian moves a lot while sleeping.”

John’s smile turns into a grin “Does that mean we are going to be roommates, Taylor?”

The blond hums “I mean, it’s up to you”

“Are we going to start sharing clothes?”

“If you feel like it”

“Will I be allowed to play some funky music-”

Roger turned around suddenly, his hands falling to his hips. “Not!”

“Roger! Come one, are you scared of actually enjoying it?”

“Don’t be ridiculous”

“Will you talk to me about Star Wars until I fall asleep?”

“I can already see this is going to be fun,” he said, deadpan. 

“Also, is there anything I need to be aware of? You told me Brian moves a lot while sleeping but is there anything you do? Do you kiss that Harrison Ford poster before getting into b-”

“If I had known you were this annoying I wouldn’t have invited you here- you know, why don’t I take your stuff back,” Roger said acting annoyed, but there was no bit behind his words.

“Sorry, I’ll behave,” said John with a smile “If you have to go, don’t worry about me. I’ll start unpacking what I can”

Roger didn’t know why the hell he had booked an appointment. “I’ve already made some space for your clothes and we can figure it out how to organize your records and sorts”

John gave him a nod “Thanks, Rog. Good luck with your customer.”

Roger smiled back and stood there a moment just staring at the brunet before heading out.

John gave himself a few moments to adjust. It was a big move, not just physically but mentally as well. He hadn’t lived with somebody since he moved out of childhood home with his mother and sister. Now he was sharing not only an apartment with two other people but a room with one of them. 

He knew there would be a good while for him to adjust, but he was sure it wouldn’t belong. After all, it wasn’t as if he was moving in with a couple of strangers. They were mates. That should have made it better, made it easier, right? 

John repeatedly told himself that it was going to be perfectly fine. It wasn’t like he and Roger couldn’t make it work! Sure, they fought now and then, but that did not mean a thing. All people fought! It was no big deal. 

And it wasn’t even any real fighting, to begin with! They were just messing one another or had small misunderstandings. Roger just liked to burst his bubble. Push his buttons. It’s what friends did! 

Right? 

Of course. 

Roger opened his eyes wide when he saw the clock on the wall. About four hours had passed and he hadn’t noticed it. That happened to him all the time when he got too concentrated on the work he was doing. Roger offered the woman to continue with the piece on another occasion and she agreed. If his hand was starting to ache, he could imagine that her back was also suffering a bit from the needle.

He knew John wouldn’t be too fond of a welcome party but he still wanted to give him a proper welcome. So when he passed by one of his favorite stores and saw it was opened he just  _ had _ to stop and go in.

He could feel his heart beating a bit faster than normal as he opened the door to his apartment. Had he walked faster than usual? A warm smile soon appeared on his face. John was leaning back over the counter, a glass full of the wine on his hand, watching Brian as he prepared dinner. He let out a laugh at something Brian had just said.

“Settling down already?” he commented as he made his way in.

John nodded “ Brian is making a welcome dinner”

“Is he? That’s nice. I hope it goes well with this welcome gift” he said, a wide grin on his lips as he extended his arm.

John looked at him with a puzzled expression and grabbed the bag. “Oh, Rog! You shouldn’t have!”

“Brick Bradford? What’s that?” Asked Brian behind John.

“A great sci-fi comic series” Answered John, not taking his eyes off the comic on his hands. 

“I knew you had good taste in comics” he teased, his laugh dying when he felt John’s arm around him and instinctively embraced him back.

“Thanks, Rog.” He felt himself shiver when he felt John’s voice so close to his ear as he spoke.

He cleared his throat “The least I can do for my friend, Deacs”

John gave him a shy smile as he pulled away from the hug, Roger already missing the touch.

“I was thinking we could watch Episode V as we ate?”

Roger gasped “Yes, yes, yes. A million times yes!”

He could hear John’s laugh as he ran to get the tape, and although he didn’t see it, he knew Brian was shaking his head. 

They set up, going to watch the flick as they had their meal. Brian stayed for the most part but eventually hurried out of there mostly to avoid the comments that Roger kept making. It wasn’t like Brian didn’t enjoy the film, but hearing him explain every little detail to John just became too much. 

So he went off to his room and left the other two men alone to finish their meal and movie. 

“So, as you can see, this series is perfect,” Roger mentioned as the credits rolled. They cleaned up the area, tossing everything into the bin. “The plot is phenomenal and the twists just keep coming. I mean, can you name any other film series that does this?” 

“Truly Roger, another one doesn’t come to mind,” John mentioned, smiling at how eager Roger was to talk of such things. 

It was obvious that the series meant a lot to him and even if he wasn’t a superfan such as Roger, he was happy to let the other man ramble on about it. 

“And the comics the film is based on, are they any good?”

“Oh! That’s the best part of it, Deacs” He turned around to face John as he opened the door to his-  _ their  _ bedroom. “It’s the other way around. The comics came after the film, that’s how original and good it was- still is!”

“And I imagine there is no need for me to save money to buy those because-”

“Of course I have them!” Roger answered before John could finish the sentence. He was already sitting on his bed, getting ready to end the night. He was feeling super tired of all the activities of that day.

John on his part kept himself close to the door, hands on his back as he watched Roger take off his shoes first and then his shirt in one quick movement. He suddenly seems to realize John was still there, clearing his throat when they locked eyes. “Uhm, I can go to the bathroom and get ready, leave you alone-” John was already shaking his head.

“Oh no, there’s no need. I’ll just-” he opened the drawer in search of his nightclothes. “go to the bathroom. You stay here.”

“I can turn away if you want me to” Roger shrugged “Although I’m not sure if I’ll be able to look away” he added teasingly.

John rolled his eyes and paid no mind to the tickling in his stomach. “Funny. I’ll see you in a bit” and with that, he was out through the door.

When he got back Roger was already inside the covers, head on his pillow, holding a notebook over his head. His eyebrows frowned as he flicked through it. The ceiling lights were already off, the lamp on Roger’s nightstand being on instead.

“Anything interesting?” he asked as he carefully got into the bed.

“Mmm… I hope so. It's a new song I’m working on.. anyway, I’m bloody tired. Is it okay if I turn off the lights?”

John just nodded. Not wanting to say anything in case his voice betrayed him. 

“Night, Deacs”

A few weeks went by and then some months, where John and Roger, as it was expected, only grew closer together. Maybe sharing a bed will do that to you, Roger said to himself. But in reality, living together only speed up things that were bound to happen anyway. Yes, of course, Roger had some doubts when the brunet first entered the shop. He did not make friends with just anyone, and despite John having a kind face, one could never know. You might have a kind and handsome face but still, be an arsehole.

And yes, of course, John proved him wrong on the very same day.

But there was a difference between just getting on well with someone and feeling like that someone needed to be part of your life from now on. And that’s how Roger felt. He could not picture a foreseeable future in which John wasn’t there to shyly show him his sketches and telling him about the story behind some of them, to laugh with him at Brian’s exasperation every time Roger merely said the words ‘Star Wars’, to go with him to do the groceries and telling him that no, just crips would not do for dinner.

Saying he grew used to John’s presence in the apartment was downplaying it. And hey, it’s not as if he didn’t already have a good time with Brian or Freddie back in those days. It was just different.

And that wasn’t weird, alright? After all, you don’t have the same relationship with different people. You bonded with each of them at different levels for different reasons. You may go to the movies with person A and enjoy it so much; then go with person B and enjoy it so much too, but differently.

Freddie had painted Roger’s nails a few times before and he’d like that. Despite loving how his nails looked, he never really bought nail polish for himself (he was a bit messy painting his nails too). There was no shame in saying that he liked having his nails painted. It was sort of relaxing; however, he was not going to waste money on paying someone to do it, there were other things on top of his list, so when Freddie moved out, that was it. 

One night, however, when he’d seen the little nail polish collection his new roommate had he couldn’t help but ask to borrow one. John, for his part, had not only lent the pretty electric blue bottle to him but offered to paint Roger’s nails himself.

Having his nails painted by Freddie had been fun. His friend, as usual, wouldn’t shut up for a minute, rambling about his clients of that day or Jim, and making him laugh with his remarks and anecdotes.

Having his nails painted by John had also been fun. But differently. John had been quiet for the most part, is extremely focused on the task in front of him. It was kind of adorable too. His brows weren’t in a frown as they sometimes were when doing a tattoo, but he had bitten his lower lip and had stuck his tongue out in some moments.

The blond couldn’t help but smile in a sort of adoration.

He liked those quiet moments with John, where they both were doing something together but in silence. And there had been lots of those. Being watching a film or show on the telly, cooking together (John did most of the cooking, he had to admit), reading in the same room. Sometimes they even read the same comic or book together over the bed. One time Roger passed the pages and another time John was in charge of that, the blonde getting a bit annoyed (but not really) when John started going faster than him.

And tonight was one of those nights. They had had a pretty normal day at the shop, busy but manageable. But busy enough that even though it was a Friday night, neither John nor Roger felt like staying up late. After having an early dinner they were side to side, sitting on the bed, Brick Bradford #5 between them.

“Stop stop stop” he patted John’s hand before he passed the page completely “I haven’t finished” he could hear John soft giggle as he finished reading the last boxes. “Okay, turn the page now”

“There are no more pages left” John mentioned

“What!?”

“It’s not an open ending, Rog”

“No. I- I know but I still wanted it to keep going, you know?”

“We’ll have to save money and buy the other one as soon as we can, I guess”

“Ugh! Okay, we’ll have to. Sleep well, Deacs” Roger sighed as he turned off the lights. He stretched and reached John’s forehead with his lips, giving him a short peck before turning around to lay on his side and close his eyes.

Did he just-? Roger opened his eyes wide but didn’t move. What the fuck did he just do?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, we know thats it's been a very long time but do you think you could possibly tell us what you thought down below? We'd be forever grateful!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heeeeeeeey guys. Long time no see.
> 
> So. 
> 
> Enjoy?

John was never one to find displays of love weird or uncomfortable. Not between lovers, friends, family. Admittedly, he wasn’t one to be going around kissing or even hugging anyone and everyone. It just didn’t come naturally to him. 

When he first met the boys, one of the things he couldn’t help but notice was how comfortable they were being physical with each other. Freddie, unsurprisingly, was the most demonstrative person he had ever met. He enjoyed hugging his friends daily, sometimes on an hourly basis. Fred would be telling a story and just throw his arms dramatically around whoever he was speaking to or whoever was closest to him. He would also give the occasional kiss on the cheek accompanied with a ‘hello’ or ‘goodbye’.

Brian was the least affectionate but he would still give a soft pat to John’s back from day to day and would lean in, bumping their shoulders together, when laughing at a joke. He had no problem in grabbing Roger gently from behind to pull him away from yet another Star Wars action figure he wanted to buy.

Roger? Well, Roger was a nice balance between the other two. Not long after John had joined the parlor, Roger was already comfortable enough to tie John’s hair in a ponytail for him but not enough to hug him as Freddie did. Then from time to time, Roger would wrap one arm around the brunet’s shoulder in a friendly way. But that was the extent of it.

That’s why when last night Roger had leaned in and planted a kiss on John’s forehead before turning to sleep, John had frozen in place. 

He tried acting like it didn’t mean anything because let's be honest, it more than probably hadn’t. Or had it? Roger had been extra attentive with him the last few weeks, finding ways of spending more time with him, laughing at his silly little remarks- John shook his head. He needed to stop that train of thoughts.

Of course, John being John had his cheeks burning up as soon as he saw Roger over the kitchen counter drinking his coffee. Messy bed hair, puffy eyes that weren’t even that opened yet, a few rosy cheeks. 

John felt his heart starting to beat faster the moment Roger smiled at him. 

“Hey, Deacs. Sleep well?” 

“mhm, yep, you?” He didn’t dare look up from his cup where he was whipping his coffee.

“Ugh, like a baby. I wish I could sleep in a few more hours”

“Do you have an early appointment today?”

“No, but I promised I’d help Freddie at the shop. He wants to redecorate a bit”

“Oh, yeah! He mentioned something about that. He wanted to move stuff around or something like that”

“Yep. Something like-” Roger stopped talking as he yawned. John had to close his eyes and not turn around to see what he knew it was going to be, a cute sight. “Isn’t your coffee ready, yet? You’ve been like that for 10 minutes” he chuckled

John shrugged as he kept whipping it “It makes the texture better”

“Texture? Deacy, that’s a coffee”

“It makes the difference, trust me!”

Roger didn’t respond immediately so John continued. He jolted as he felt a hand on his lower back.

“Scared you?” Roger asked painfully close to his face “Let me see what you’re doing”

“I- uhm” he cleared his throat and tried to ignore Roger’s breath against his neck “I beat the coffee mixture until it’s much lighter”

“Why?”

“It makes the coffee better, I guess? My sister used to do it this way.”

“It seems like a lot of work”

“Best things in life usually take a lot of work”

There was a pause.

“In that, we can agree” Roger spoke with something unrecognizable in his tone before moving away “I’m gonna shower, it’s getting late”

Freddie was already moving the chairs around when Roger arrived at the shop. His friend has always been an impatient person. If he wanted something done he wanted it by yesterday. 

“Freddie, why didn’t you wait for me? You are gonna hurt yourself” he rushed to Freddie’s side and helped him move the last tattoo chair to the other side of the room. 

“You were taking so long! What was I supposed to do? Wait?”

“Yeah! What everyone does when someone is a bit late, or super late when it comes to you, let’s be honest”

“Ugh, I did not come here to be attacked like that”

Roger let out a laugh “Yeah, well, I am not sure why I came here either. Why the sudden need to redecorate?” 

Freddie shrugged “I think we need to bring new and good energy”

“I thought that was why you hired John some months ago” he teased

Freddie scoffed.

“And to think you were so opposed to that idea, now I’d need a freaking… I don’t know.. a knife to tear you both apart”

Roger mindlessly hummed. Freddie frowned. 

“You don’t agree”

Roger hummed again, lost in his thoughts. His mind goes through a million things and feels blank at the same time.

“So you don’t think you and John are tied to the hip?” Freddie asked, sounding incredulous.

“I- uhm” Roger swallowed hard

Freddie’s face softened as his voice did “Darling, is something wrong?”

Roger shook his head

“Then what is it?”

Roger closed his eyes as he felt Freddie’s comforting hand over his shoulder. He took a deep breath before blurting out “I kissed John”

He did not need to open his eyes to know Freddie’s expression, his gasp was enough “You did what!?”

“Ugh! Don’t make me say it again” he turned around and grabbed one of their storages to move it

“Okay… but good God, finally” 

“Wait- what?”

“So did he kiss back? Oh, of course, he did, he can’t stop staring at your lips sometimes”

Roger stood in the middle of the room, looking at Freddie with eyes and mouth wide. Trying to process his friend’s words.

“I- no… I kissed him on the forehead”

Freddie made a face full of disgust “Are you ten now?”

“Oi! What the fuck is that supposed to mean!?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe that you’ve been drooling over him for months and you kiss him on the forehead like a child? Tell me, was it passionate?”

“Oh, give me a break. We were about to go to sleep when I just- I don’t know bad this- this urge-“

“To kiss his forehead?. Honestly, blondie, where is the whore I love?”

Roger tried to give Freddie the coldest of stares but the smug smile didn’t come off his friend’s face

“That’s Brian for you” Freddie burst out laughing.

“Oh! Where is that sign that you promised you’d bring? Remember? Something about not whoring around?”

“Deacy is helping me make it. He is adding some shiny lights. Brian will definitely kill us”

“Uhu”

They began organizing furniture and the pictures on the wall again. Freddie decides where everything should go and then Roger helps to do it so. He didn’t have much time to think about his friend’s reaction. Or maybe he didn’t want to have the time to think about it. What did he mean by ‘finally’? And drooling over? He never restrained himself from looking at John. Why would he? He had beautiful friends, and John was one of them. But he hadn’t been  _ drooling over  _ him, whatever that meant. And it wasn’t his fault the brunet had a soft face with calming eyes and a smile so endearing he wanted to kiss it.

Oh

_ Oh _

Oh shit.

“Oh shit”

“Ow, Roger, be careful, you dropped one of my favorite frames”

“Oh, shit” he brought his hands to his mouth.

“What, darling?”

“I want to kiss John”

Freddie opened his mouth and closed it again immediately, blinking rapidly a few times. “Are you really… having the realization  _ now _ ?”

“I want to kiss John” he repeated without really any emotion in his voice other than disbelief.

“Didn’t you casually mention that when he appeared when his new haircut was hard?”

“I- it was different then”

“Oh… Rog” he felt Freddie’s arms wrapped around him “Don’t stress so much about it. It’s a beautiful thing”

“It awful!”

“Why!?”

“Because- we - because we are friends! We work together, we  _ live  _ together, we work together-”

“You’ve said that one already”

Roger was beginning to hyperventilate

“Yes! Because it’s important! I don’t mix business with pleasure, and I won’t. This little… whatever this is will go away”

“If you say so… just be careful, Rog”

“I don’t have to! It  _ will _ go away. It’s just because we’ve been spending a lot of time together and I haven’t messed around with anyone in a while. Maybe I should call someone, yeah, that’s a good idea”

“That’s the worst idea, dear”

“Why?”

“When has it ever, in the history of the universe, sleeping with some random person been good for forgetting about another person you care about? Why don’t you just talk with John”

“Are you out of your mind!? What if I freak him out? I’d rather stay like this than risk losing him just because I’m… honey or something”

“I'd say you’re ‘something’ more than honey”

Roger let out a sigh and sat on the floor. He couldn’t really blame Freddie for his reaction. Looking back he too should have realized what was going on soon to stop it. He wasn’t embarrassed or anything. He just liked John a lot. He enjoyed his company and having fun together. He didn’t want his silly feelings to ruin that. Also, he and John were still sharing a bed. What would John think if he found out about Roger’s sentiment? He would think he was a creep. For sure.

“Darling…” Freddie shook him gently. He met his eyes without saying a word “Do you want tea?” He nodded and gave him a small smile before getting up.

Meanwhile, back in the apartment John and Brian had been chatting for a while. John was actually glad his friend didn’t have anywhere to go. He enjoyed spending time alone with his thoughts but having some quality time with Brian was nice. He liked the way he explained things so carefully and yet not as the other person was an idiot. They shared some Uni experiences, laughing at some ridiculous stories they had to tell. When they got to how they became interested in tattoo art, Brian mentioned he had always been interested in anything space-related and enjoyed drawing and painting related pieces since a young age. He began talking and talking about space with adoration in his eyes. 

“And how does music come in?” asked John curiously “Did you start playing young too?”

Brian nodded. “I did. In fact, have you noticed my guitar?”

“Yes, the beautiful thing she is”

“Well, my father and I made it from scratch when I was a teenager”

John gasped “Really? That’s amazing!”

“That’s one of the reasons I treat it with so much care. I mean, I would treat with care any guitar but this one has a special sentiment to it”

“I can see why… and it’s still as it was all those years ago? You didn’t have to change anything or replace-”

“Nope”

“Wow!”

“And this is a very subjective opinion but I don’t think there’s a way for it to sound better than it already does, so I’d probably never make a change to it.”

An idea came to John’s mind. “So… what if I told you that there is” John bit his lower lip excitedly.

“What do you mean?” Brian frowned

“Okay, so, some time ago I found a circuit board from a portable radio on a dumpster”

“Yeah…?”

“So I got the idea to put it into a speaker cabinet and with some good batteries…. “

“You’ve made a speaker from the dumpster?”

“I’ve made an amp! And it actually sounds super nice, if you don’t mind me saying myself. You should try it with your guitar!”

Brian didn’t respond immediately and John quickly added “I know it sounds weird… and gross but it’s not. Let me show you”

John got up quickly from the couch and went to grab his amp in one hand.

He set up everything so quickly he didn’t notice Brian gaping from the couch.

“You play?”

“Uhm.. yeah” he shrugged “Didn’t you notice the additional bass on the hallway?” John asked with a smirk

“I thought that was Roger’s!”

“Roger plays bass?”

“Not really but I thought maybe he was trying something new. He knows how to play bass, he just lives for his drums”

John chuckled. “I get that. I know how to handle other instruments but I can’t help to love the sounds the bass makes a little bit more over the others”

Brian opened his mouth again, surprised “I didn’t know you were such a musician, John!”

He could feel his cheeks getting a bit hotter while a smug smile appeared on his face ”Yeah, well, I’m full of surprise” he teased, making Brian laugh.

It was no shock that John was reserved. And he liked that. Even though he had managed to get comfortable between his not-so-new-anymore friends, he wasn’t one to spill his guts at any given time.

He encouraged Brian to plug his guitar and try the amp. The look on his face, as he played the first chords of what John recognized to be one of the band’s songs, made him smile big.

“It sounds great, doesn’t it?”

“It does!. And you made this yourself?”

John nodded proudly

“That’s amazing!” he played for a bit more with a content smile.

“So…” started Brian “Would I be lucky enough to listen to some John Deacon’s creation?”

“Like now?” Brian nodded “Mmm.. maybe, I don’t really have any originals. I sometimes play what comes to my mind at that moment but I tend to practice an existing song most of the times”

“That’s more than fine!”

John cleared his throat as he felt he was getting a bit nervous. “Uhmm, okay” he plugged his bass to the amp. 

“No pressure, though! If you don’t feel like playing for me, don’t worry” Brian rushed to assure John

He smiled with a sigh. “No, that’s okay. I just tend to get nervous performing in front of someone else” 

Without another word he began picking the chords for “TBD” It’s been a while since he played, luckily there had been a lot of work at the shop but when he wasn’t working, he had been messing around with Roger or the others.

He became engrossed in his playing and a smile quickly appeared on his face. Maybe he needed to make more time for this. He let his fingers move almost automatically, he had chosen “TBD” because it was one he knew by heart. If he was going to show off his skills he wasn’t going to pick a song he was still trying to figure its way around.

“John, that was really good. Really really good” Brian said after John finished playing the last note.

“Thanks, Bri”

“What the hell was that?” Both Brian and John quickly turned their heads towards the entrance where Roger was standing. The mouth opened and frown in place. John felt his face burn and swallowed thickly.

“John was showing me one of his secret talents” Roger stared at John and he worried his lower lip. Why did Roger look mad? Was he angry at him? The silence that was setting in the room only made John more restless.

“Rog?” he tried

“And you have the  _ nerve _ to be critical of our music when sounding like  _ that _ !?”

John's heart sank. Had Roger hated what he heard?

“Roger…” Brian interfered

“No.” he cut him off “He thinks our music is ‘just fine’ and that we should think of getting a bass player! Well, of course, he would say that being ridiculously good at playing the fucking bass himself”

John opened his mouth at that without really knowing how to reply. What? Was that a compliment?

“I think it was” muttered Brian making him aware that he’d spoken out loud.

“I mean, we are already great but with you playing? We would sound amazing. Of course, we should first try something together and see how it goes, being the rhythm section, but I already know we are going to be very in synch” John’s heart skipped a beat at the blonde’s wink.

“Ohh, yes! You should join us!” Brian added enthusiastically.

John was already shaking his head. “Nonono”

“Why not!?”

“Because I don’t want to be in a band… I think”

“It’s not just any band, it’s us”

“Roger, we’ve talked about you thinking you should get your way all the time, right?”

“It’s not just my way! Brian agrees, right?” Brian nodded “And I’m sure Freddie will too”

“Still” John winced.

“Okay, John, come one.” He took some steps towards John “We’ll sound great together” 

“How do you know?”

“I just do. And if you want to prove me wrong you should do it by playing with me”

John shook his head again “Roger, no”

“Come one”

“No”

“Come on, John, for me?”

“No”

Roger started nagging and shaking John softly making him smile against his will “Come one, Deaks, pretty please? Please please please”

John was really trying not to think of the feeling of Roger's hands on his arm and lower back as he shook him. 

“No”

“Do I need to get on my knees?”

John's cheeks went red at the very thought “No, Roger, stop it” he tried sounding determined despite the smile on his lips

“Please please please” Roger started again making John laugh this time

“ I would say go get a room but you two already have one”

They both stopped immediately. Brian was wearing a smug smile. But Roger is right, you should try and play with us and if it’s no good and you want us to drop the subject then we’ll leave you alone. Right, Rog?”

The blond shrugged without breaking eye contact with John. “That won’t happen but yeah”

John rolled his eyes “Okay” 

Roger’s eyes lit up. “Great! I can’t believe you’ve seen us struggle while trying to get a decent bass player when you are one. This will not be forgotten, John”

John just rolled his eyes.

The next day found them in the band’s usual rehearsal place, this time instead of the three, there was a new addition. John had been taking his time to tune his bass as he waited for the rest to be ready too. 

Freddie got closer to him with a kind smile “So, darling, do you have any specific song in your mind, or should we show you one of ours so you can later try it?”

“Uhm, if you play one of the songs you played the night I saw you, I think I might be able to uhm.. jump in”

Freddie clapped and jumped in his place “Perfect! Let’s go with Great King Rat! Shall we?” Both Brian and Roger nodded before settling in their places. John did not miss the little wink and side smile Roger gave him before counting everyone in and beginning playing.

He remembered that one, he had quite liked it. He listened attentively until the first chorus ended and jumped in with what felt right to him. John hated to admit it but he loved it. His riffs were not perfect but he was already thinking of what to change and what to leave next time. So that meant he kind of wanted it to be the next time. 

When the song ended he couldn’t hide a playful smile that had appeared as he was playing.

“That sounded fantastic!” exclaimed Freddie. “God, John, you keep amazing me!”

“Thanks, Fred… that was fun” he admitted with a sigh 

“See! I was right!” Roger hit the sneers excitedly “We sound so good together!”.

Freddie sighed, with a pretend disappointing look “Behave, child. What about we play some more and then we go for some beers to celebrate? They’re on me!”

After their mini practice session, John was exhausted, it’d been a long time since he had spent more than an hour or so playing, let alone playing with other people. For some reason, he hated to admit it but it had felt great, refreshing. He knew his friends were talented, and not to get into a high horse, but when you added the bass to their sounds it just was magical. And the fact that he instantly felt comfortable and a part of them was a great sensation. 

He was content with the result to say the list.

Freddie had kept his word and had bought them all a beer afterward. He and Roger kept nagging him about joining them permanently but he was a bit hesitant still. He wasn’t sure how comfortable he would feel getting on a stage. Probably not much giving the fact his heart started to race at the very thought.

Or maybe his heart was racing because he could feel Roger’s gaze on him as he prepared for bed. They had been silent for a bit now but he sensed Roger wanted to say something out loud and he just wasn't doing it. Which was more than unusual for him.

He finished folding his clothes, which took him more than it needed, and turned to the bed confirming his thoughts, Roger had his eyes on him. He followed him with his eyes as he approached and opened the sheets to get inside.

Roger quickly turned his head as he did and began settling himself more comfortably on his side to face him once more. John did his best to avoid his eyes until he eventually settled on his side, facing his friend too.

“You’re really talented” Roger finally murmured

The compliment made his chest warm “Thanks, Rog. It’s a lot coming from you” 

“Hmm”

“What?” he could see Roger’s mind was now elsewhere.

“Nothing. Just thinking”

“About?”

“Stuff. Friendships, love, the usual”

Okay, John’s heart was definitely racing now. He was reading too much into Roger’s words. He must be.

“That’s not ‘the usual’” he ventured

“Isn’t it?” okay, Roger’s eyes were definitely on his lips before coming up to rest on John’s eyes again. He wasn’t imagining that. Could it be?

Maybe it was the fact that it was already midnight and he was tired, maybe it was the beers he had had or the excitement he still had rushing through his veins from the practice today. Or maybe it was the way Roger was worrying his lower lip with a new small frown on his face that made him move his face a bit closer to the blonde.

John's heart dropped as Roger quickly moved away, turning the light from the standoff, leaving them in complete darkness. “Night, Deaks”

“Night” he responded tightly, fighting the knot in his throat. He closed his eyes and forced himself to count down from 100. He got to 30 before finally falling asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A million apologies for disappearing off the face of the planet. Life has been rough and 2020 seemed to run us over repeatedly. We hope you enjoyed the last chapter and we promise we will finish this story eventually.

**Author's Note:**

> Well? Is it awful? Tell us what you think down below.


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